UCLA Woman's Basketball: Bruins Placed In Gauntlet of Bracket For NCAA Tournament

The Bruins have a tough road out of their region.

The NCAA women's basketball tournament is set. Now that Selection Sunday is over, the Bruins have officially claimed a No. 2 seed and will play in the Albany 2 Region.

However, the Bruins will not have an easy path out of this region and into the final four. UCLA has two of the toughest opponents in this region, with Caitlin Clark and Iowa taking the region's No. 1 seed and LSU taking the No. 3 seed. 

The ALBANY 2 region❗️#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/JmYTK4zEAk

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessWBB) March 18, 2024

Iowa and LSU were the two teams that made it to the championship a season ago when LSU took home the title. This was of course the game that drew in huge headlines as Angel Reese and Clark became giant names, especially with Iowa upsetting previously undefeated South Carolina and then LSU defeating Clark and the Hawkeyes.

The good news is if the Bruins advance, they will not have to face LSU or Iowa right away. The soonest they will face LSU if both teams win would be the Sweet 16, while they would face Iowa until the Elite Eight.

For now, the Bruins will focus on their first-round matchup against California Baptist on Saturday night. Whoever wins this game will advance to the second round to play the winner of No. 10 UNLV and No. 7 Creighton.

The Bruins come into this tournament with a 25-6 overall record and a 13-5 conference record, their best under head coach Cori Close since 2020 when March Madness was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The furthest they've gotten under Close is the Elite Eight. They'll try to improve upon that this time around, but it won't be easy with their current region placement.